"we should go to the Great Hall." Pansy proposed as they went down the stairs.
"We could go to professor Hagrid's, he asked me to go to him for lunch sometime."
Harry replied a little embarrassed.
Pansy looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Professor Hagrid? What's he cooking for us, a hippogriff stew?" She joked mischievously. Harry remembered little of his great friend's cooking, such as his homemade rock-hard biscuits.
"I hope not."
"Are you sure he'll want me there with you? The whole school knows that he has no sympathy for Slytherins."
Harry knew that his fear was founded, it was Hagrid himself who recommended him in Diagon Alley to pay attention to Slytherin, because according to him only from that house come the dark wizards.
"No, he won't say anything."
She shrugged and they opened the door to go out into the schoolyard.
"Since when are you so close to professor Hagrid?" she asked curiously.
"He was the one who brought me the letter to Hogwarts, he introduced me to the wizarding world and he…helped me through an hard time, you know."
Oh and he gave me Hedwig!" He added remembering his adorable white owl and she just nodded.
They also passed by the school lake which shone like never before.
"Before the school year ends, we should have a nice bath there." Proposed Pansy looking at the vastness of the lake.
"I'd love to though I...well I remember not being able to swim." He admitted very embarrassed.
Pansy looked at him widening her eyes.
"The great Harry Potter afraid of water?! But I'll teach you how to swim!" She gave him a light punch on his arm to encourage him.
Harry smiled at the idea, he'd never gotten to have anyone teach him.
They were walking towards Hagrid's house until he was tackled in front by a girl with an indomitable mane of curly hair who ran over to give him a bone crushing hug.
"Harry! I didn't know you were out of the infirmary yet. Are you okay?" she asked looking at him with her hazel eyes.
She was the girl who accompanied him along with the redhead in his memories and in that moment he remembered his name.
"Hermione!"
She was happy until she noticed another girl next to him.
"Parkinson." She said with all the disgust in her body. "What did you come to do, do you want to torment Harry again?" she demanded angrily.
Pansy crossed her arms across her chest.
"For your information Granger it was Harry who asked me to accompany him and help in his recovery."
Hermione's eyes widened in and turned to the boy.
"No, Harry would never ask you."
"I asked her." He said it innocently, not expecting the reaction to come.
"BUT HARRY!" she cried. "She's just exploiting you, she's one of the most evil witches we know! She's a viper from Malfoy's group, how can you not remember that?! She's Pugface!"
Pansy was shaking with rage and she was barely holding back from crying.
She was about to say something but she didn't notice that it was Harry who spoke first.
"She's not exploiting me and she's my friend. She's not a viper and calling her a Pugface is really offensive."
Hermione looked shocked by his response.
"I have to go." she said softly running away from the two of them.
Harry scratched the back of his head uneasily.
"I…I didn't expect such a thing, sorry-" but he was interrupted by Pansy who leaned to his left, placing her arm between his bust and his arm.
He still felt embarrassed about this physical contact.
"You don't have to apologize, you defended me." She leaned her head gently against his shoulder as she gripped his arm as if it was an anchor.
"I uhm...w-we have to go."
They set off like this, walking closely side by side.
Harry didn't mind at all.
"But one day you'll have to explain to me about your hatred for Hermione..." he suggested, hoping she wouldn't be offended or distanced at that proposal.
Pansy knew why she hated her.
She remembered perfectly how Hermione placed herself from freshman year, looking down on everyone.
How all of her teachers exalted her and showered her with compliments.
"She Masters magic better than her pureblood peers!" The teachers whispered.
She remembered how the other students looked the gryffindor girl as if she was the only pretty witch in the whole school.
But what angered Pansy most and led her to hate Hermione was after the troll attack on Halloween in their freshman year.
she was rewarded even though she put the lives of her companions at risk. The worst thing of all was seeing her go out with that student from then on. To see her next to him every day, every hour. And it was a pang in her heart every time she saw them together.
"yes, one day I'll explain it to you..." she told him in a low voice.
They went out after lunch for a walk through the forbidden forest with Hagrid as their guide. Pansy didn't know why Harry was so insistent on agreeing to go there.
"Believe me, it's a surprise." He told her.
After a while she understood why he didn't want to tell her anything.
Silently Hagrid told them to come forward and the young girl was amazed at what she saw.
There was a unicorn! She had never seen one live.
It was teeming with grass in a lighted area of the forest, surrounded by flowers she had never seen anywhere.
"I can?" she asked the professor.
He accompanied her close to the animal that was very hesitant before her but then let her stroke the soft white coat.
"It's wonderful." She was about to burst with joy.
"Harry told me privately earlier that you was interested in studying unicorns."
The girl noticed that Harry was looking at her happily.
"You shouldn't have done that, thank you." she told him as she petted the unicorn.
"I wanted to thank you for agreeing to help me." he said with a slight tinge of red on her cheeks.
After their adventure in the forest, they decided to return to the castle.
"Is it okay if i see you again tomorrow?" The boy asked her as they entered through the large wooden door.
"Yes, I'd really like that, Harry."
She greeted him, going down to the dungeons.
Pansy entered the Slytherin common room almost dancing, happily humming a happy tune. Draco scrutinized her for a few seconds and then ignored her and went back to talking with his lackeys. Pansy was about to hop up to the girls' dorm when a cough called her back to reality.
"Oh Blaise, I didn't see you." she said cheerfully.
"I've never seen you so happy, did your secret mission go well?" He pressed his best friend.
"Yes, I'm helping Harry. He even showed me a unicorn to thank me." she said dreamily.
"Potter showed you a unicorn? This beats them all." The boy said that he couldn't believe his friend's story.
"Haha. Did they say anything while I was gone?"
"Well there was Daphne saying at lunch today that you bewitched Potter to go out with you and insult Granger."
Pansy burst out laughing.
"Ah, I knew that harpy would be envious!"
